Foundations of Tyndall stone in Wolseley

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/07/2017 (3309 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The once Wolseley-based Winnipeg Architecture Foundation (now housed in the Exchange) has arranged a tour for later this month to Gillis Quarries Ltd. in Garson, to mark the forthcoming release of a WAF-sponsored publication on Tyndall stone.

It’s a testament to people’s interest in this unique limestone that the tour was fully booked weeks ago.

The light grey or buff stone, sometimes pocked with fossilized marine life and always mottled with the meanderings of ancient, burrowing shrimp-like creatures, commonly graces local buildings and monuments, and is coveted elsewhere.

And wouldn’t you know it? Historically, Tyndall stone has foundations in Wolseley.

In the late 1890s, John Gunn, who would retire to 511 Raglan Road (from 1919-1932), came upon the massive Tyndall stone deposit at what is today Garson. The circumstances were recounted in Carol Shields’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Stone Diaries: “The quarry…[was] discovered in 1896 by a farmer digging a well….” (The year may be questionable; Shields continues with more or less literary licence.)

Before moving into Wolseley (then considered part of the West End), Gunn lived in Stonewall and farmed and developed quarries in the Interlake. From the start of last century, Gunn and then Gunn & Sons, ran construction services from downtown Winnipeg office buildings and, for decades, had work-yards on Jarvis at Schultz, in the North End.

The Gunns were variably stone, lime and general contractors, dealers in coal and wood, building suppliers, bridge builders and engineers.

John Gunn’s Raglan house is a handsome brick structure. Its first owner was a mason who became vice-president of Bird’s Hill Sandstone Brick Company. The house does have Tyndall stone foundations, common to the neighbourhood.

Current owner, Chris Di Lullo, said contractors still regard the home’s connection to Gunn “with reverence.”

For four generations now, the Gillis family has been developing and operating quarries at Garson, beginning with patriarch August Gillis in 1910. Today, Gillis Quarries Ltd. is the sole supplier of Tyndall stone to the building industry.

August Gillis was a stonecutter.  He lived on Strathcona Street; then, from 1910-1921, at 1130 Sherburn near Notre Dame. For decades, August Gillis & Son, which became Gillis Quarries Ltd. in 1922, had a mill on Spruce Street at Richard. All in the West End.

In 1922, August’s son, Charles, built for himself a grand Tyndall stone residence at 1224 Wolseley Ave. It remained in the family until 1956.

It remains, today, a Wolseley delight.

Gail Perry is a community correspondent for Wolseley. She can be reached at: gailperry.writer@gmail.com